As is known, a bowling alley lane basically consists of a bowling surface which extends longitudinally, on which a preset number of bowling pins (normally 10) is set out. The player must knock the pins down by throwing a ball at them.
If, with a single throw, the player knocks down all of the pins, it is called a “strike”. In contrast, if after the first throw one or more pins are still standing, the player is entitled to a second throw, to try to knock down the remaining pins.
Upon finishing a turn, which consists of a single throw in the case of a “strike”, or two throws if no strike is achieved, the player is assigned a score, according to the number of pins knocked down.
For this purpose there are suitable detector means, able to count the number of pins knocked down and to calculate the relative score, even according to the number of throws taken.
There are display means connected to the detector means. The display means normally consist of screens or monitors, which make available, in real time, all data relative to the current game and the various players taking part (players' names, scores for each turn, total scores, etc.).
In order to improve the quality of each player's game and to increase the probability that each, with the two throws available to them, will knock down all of the pins in the lane, the above-mentioned display means are also set up in such a way that they provide appropriate suggestions.
The indications provided by the device are particularly helpful, above all if, after the first throw, not all of the pins are knocked down. Depending on the arrangement pattern of the pins still standing, the player must select the trajectory to be followed by the ball for the second throw with great accuracy.
In particular, the player must be able to throw the ball in such a way that all of the pins still standing are knocked down, if necessary so that some pins knock down others as they fall, with a kind of “domino” effect, allowing all of the pins to be knocked down.
To provide players with appropriate suggestions, there are devices currently available which indicate the point at which the ball must hit the pins still standing in order to knock all of them down, but no further information is supplied regarding the trajectory of the ball or the effects of impact with the pins.
In other words, the devices currently marketed can provide a static image on the display means, showing only the ideal point of contact between the ball and one or more of the standing pins, without the player knowing how the ball must reach that position and what effects the suggested throw will have on each pin.
The disadvantages of the devices described above are, therefore, obvious.
The suggestions for players supplied by such devices are imprecise, since only a single static image is displayed, indicating the ideal point of contact between the ball and the pins still standing.
In particular, since such a static image does not provide complete indications for a correct throw and does not provide the player with information detailed enough to allow an understanding of the effects of such a throw, the player cannot fully comprehend the consequences of the throw he or she is about to take and, therefore, cannot improve his or her technique.